Derek is doing well! My belly is getting bigger and bigger by the week and we're able to see him move from the outside a lot better now. He was kicking up a storm yesterday morning and Mitch was actually able to feel him move! Derek seems to know his Daddy because he usually quiets down when Mitch puts his hand on my belly. It's a nice trick to use when he's moving a lot and keeping me awake at night. We're excited to welcome him into our family - I'm hoping he comes towards the end of December. :)
Update on the kidney situation: We've got the last ultrasound scheduled for 20 Nov early in the morning, so watch for a post that day. The plan is that the ultrasound will be used to determine whether or not Derek's kidneys are severely blocked and filled with urine and, if so, whether or not to take him up to a month early (around 14 Dec). Unfortunately, 14 Dec is the first day of finals, so we'll be working with the Dr.s to see if we can delay it for a few days. Most of my finals are scheduled, but I think my professors will allow me to take them early.
Mitch had to work late last night and Austin and Liz invited me to watch their co-ed volleyball game. I was able to go and help babysit Katelyn, John and Jenna's little girl. She really didn't like it when Mom and Dad left and was crying pretty much the whole 40 minutes or so. She seemed to get a little better towards the end, so I'm looking forward to trying again next week. John was pretty confident that Katelyn would start feeling more comfortable about the third time I babysit. I'm hopeful. Austin and Liz's team won the first 2 games pretty much hands-down. I wasn't able to keep track of the scores, but the opposing team was pretty uncoordinated. :)
Watch for a belly picture post coming up, probably later this week or even tonight. We'll see how Mitch is feeling when he gets home.
Hope you all are doing well!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Moving Update
The NCOs finally got our reporting info! We report to Maxwell AFB 14 May for ASBC. Not sure if we're going to move in and then accompany him to ASBC or what, but we'll see. Then we report to Laughlin AFB, TX on 04 July. So, we'll be in TX for approx 6 months (and hopefully be able to celebrate Derek's 1st birthday with all his extended family) though it might be as long as a year. We'll get to experience the blazing hot summer of TX - yay. I hope the A/C works!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Baby update - School - Tests - Rats
Hi all!
So, most of you have heard the drama about Derek possibly having Down Syndrome. The blood test I did ruled that out, thank heaven, but the doctors still might take him a month early if his kidneys get worse. The prognosis on that is actually looking quite good though, so Mitch and I are staying optimistic. I'm still hoping he comes 3 weeks early so we can finally hold our baby boy - and we can get the tax rebate, lol.
I'm working on my paperwork to get out of ROTC and will let you know when I'm officially a civvie. School is going well - Mitch has 12 credits this semester due to a happy coincidence with him already fulfilling a graduation requirement with another class. He's got a full workload so he stays busy. We live for weekends when we see each other more than a few hours every day. I have three tests this week - I'm going to take one in about an hour, one tomorrow and one on Friday. We'll see how I do. I think Mitch has his first test next week or the week after.
We're pretty much fully recovered from the nasty virus that I got and gave to Mitch. He only had it a few days, but he really felt bad, poor thing. The rat sales are picking up and I'm really hopeful this next litter will sell quickly because they're a bit rarer. Blue point siamese! I got 6 of them out of 10 - the other 4 are black. I'm stoked: these babies look beautiful and I hope I got some dumbo. My competitors have now joined forces into a joint rattery and have slashed their prices - hard to compete with that, especially when they have cute babies. My babies are way more socialized though, which proves that looks aren't everything.
Del Rio called back and we aren't allowed to have rats in the housing. That sucks. Mitch says I can get a dog before we get down there. I'm looking at a smaller dog that I can easily manage, but we also want a german shepherd puppy. Not sure which we'll get first, though base housing allows 2 pets (dogs or cats or a combo of the two). Mitch doesn't want a cat, so I'm looking at small dogs - maybe a shitzu or miniature schnauzer or scottish terrier. I'm getting pretty good with the clippers (Mitch has fewer chunks missing when I cut his hair, haha!) so I feel confident I can clip a small dog by myself. Derek will be about 4-8 months old when we move (or so we estimate our moving time) so it won't be difficult to manage a baby and a small dog. Mitch wants to train the puppy himself, but we'll see.
Well, hope you all are doing well! Have a great week!
So, most of you have heard the drama about Derek possibly having Down Syndrome. The blood test I did ruled that out, thank heaven, but the doctors still might take him a month early if his kidneys get worse. The prognosis on that is actually looking quite good though, so Mitch and I are staying optimistic. I'm still hoping he comes 3 weeks early so we can finally hold our baby boy - and we can get the tax rebate, lol.
I'm working on my paperwork to get out of ROTC and will let you know when I'm officially a civvie. School is going well - Mitch has 12 credits this semester due to a happy coincidence with him already fulfilling a graduation requirement with another class. He's got a full workload so he stays busy. We live for weekends when we see each other more than a few hours every day. I have three tests this week - I'm going to take one in about an hour, one tomorrow and one on Friday. We'll see how I do. I think Mitch has his first test next week or the week after.
We're pretty much fully recovered from the nasty virus that I got and gave to Mitch. He only had it a few days, but he really felt bad, poor thing. The rat sales are picking up and I'm really hopeful this next litter will sell quickly because they're a bit rarer. Blue point siamese! I got 6 of them out of 10 - the other 4 are black. I'm stoked: these babies look beautiful and I hope I got some dumbo. My competitors have now joined forces into a joint rattery and have slashed their prices - hard to compete with that, especially when they have cute babies. My babies are way more socialized though, which proves that looks aren't everything.
Del Rio called back and we aren't allowed to have rats in the housing. That sucks. Mitch says I can get a dog before we get down there. I'm looking at a smaller dog that I can easily manage, but we also want a german shepherd puppy. Not sure which we'll get first, though base housing allows 2 pets (dogs or cats or a combo of the two). Mitch doesn't want a cat, so I'm looking at small dogs - maybe a shitzu or miniature schnauzer or scottish terrier. I'm getting pretty good with the clippers (Mitch has fewer chunks missing when I cut his hair, haha!) so I feel confident I can clip a small dog by myself. Derek will be about 4-8 months old when we move (or so we estimate our moving time) so it won't be difficult to manage a baby and a small dog. Mitch wants to train the puppy himself, but we'll see.
Well, hope you all are doing well! Have a great week!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Derek Steven - TEXAS!! - School - Rats
So, yes, we know it's a boy; yes, it's uncharacteristically early for us to have found out at 16 weeks that he's a boy, but the ultrasound is clear; and yes, the name is fairly cemented already. Everyone calls him Derek, so Derek it will be. I'm a little miffed that all she seems to be doing is MAKING this baby... but that's beside the point. At least Mitch chose something normal and didn't name him Ferris or something. My boy will be strong, but he's not made of iron (that's a joke! Ferris/Ferrous = iron compound...ok, I'm weird).
The Houston Baby Shower was AMAZING!!! My mom, sisters and grandmother did a terrific job setting it up and it was just wonderful!! Our entire trip to Houston/Ingleside was amazing too! Ingleside hasn't changed much - thank heavens - and it was wonderfully homey. Breakfast burritos were indeed very welcome. I ate the last one right after we landed in Utah, Dad... potato, egg, bacon and cheese, yum! I also rode Denise's horse Barney for a good long time - at 4 months pregnant! I felt great after I got off and only had one big bruise on my thigh from the trooper saddle - very different from western saddles. That would go away with time riding, but unfortunately, I don't have the time or money to ride up here in Utah. Maybe when Mitch gets promoted a ways further up the ranks, we can afford to have a horse or two. We'll see.
School starts next week and I'm putting the finishing touches on my schedule... and cleaning the apt. It will be nice to start school with a clean place, but it's a pain in the butt to deep clean. Good thing our apt in Del Rio is about the same size (but on ground level with WINDOWS!!! YAY!!!) I'm looking forward to new classes and so glad I can finish up school with online classes when Derek comes. That will be a HUGE blessing. Now, to convince Mitch to let me start classes this semester, so I can finish by Feb and have the classes count toward graduation in April. We'll see...
The rat business is picking back up out of the summer slump, although it looks like we may not be able to take them with us to Del Rio. I called to verify and the contracter/landlord will have to get back to me sometime. We're not due to report for about another year, so I'm sure he's in no hurry. I shouldn't have mentioned when we were reporting, but I usually have a tendency to shoot myself in the foot that way.
The Houston Baby Shower was AMAZING!!! My mom, sisters and grandmother did a terrific job setting it up and it was just wonderful!! Our entire trip to Houston/Ingleside was amazing too! Ingleside hasn't changed much - thank heavens - and it was wonderfully homey. Breakfast burritos were indeed very welcome. I ate the last one right after we landed in Utah, Dad... potato, egg, bacon and cheese, yum! I also rode Denise's horse Barney for a good long time - at 4 months pregnant! I felt great after I got off and only had one big bruise on my thigh from the trooper saddle - very different from western saddles. That would go away with time riding, but unfortunately, I don't have the time or money to ride up here in Utah. Maybe when Mitch gets promoted a ways further up the ranks, we can afford to have a horse or two. We'll see.
School starts next week and I'm putting the finishing touches on my schedule... and cleaning the apt. It will be nice to start school with a clean place, but it's a pain in the butt to deep clean. Good thing our apt in Del Rio is about the same size (but on ground level with WINDOWS!!! YAY!!!) I'm looking forward to new classes and so glad I can finish up school with online classes when Derek comes. That will be a HUGE blessing. Now, to convince Mitch to let me start classes this semester, so I can finish by Feb and have the classes count toward graduation in April. We'll see...
The rat business is picking back up out of the summer slump, although it looks like we may not be able to take them with us to Del Rio. I called to verify and the contracter/landlord will have to get back to me sometime. We're not due to report for about another year, so I'm sure he's in no hurry. I shouldn't have mentioned when we were reporting, but I usually have a tendency to shoot myself in the foot that way.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Baby stuff!!!
So, we're pretty excited to welcome a baby. I've gone hog-wild pricing all the baby stuff I want/think I need, haha. We've been super blessed though. Mitch's Aunt Steph gave us a crib that is still in great condition, Mom Heath gave us the softest cutest baby blanket, Dad Heath gave me an amazing pregnancy body pillow - I pretty much can't sleep without it now, and my mom is throwing a baby shower for me. Wow. All we need now is the stroller/car seat combo and we're pretty much set on the non-refillable items. Diapers, bottles and pacifiers will probably start piling up in our closet as I start building a supply via store sales.
I'm 15 weeks today and finally starting to show! Woot! Mitch is happy to be able to touch my growing "baby bump" and grins like the proud daddy he's going to be every time. He's so cute!
We've had to revise our baby timeline - I'm now due 14 Jan and the gender ultrasound is Jul 27!!! *rubs hands gleefully* Mitch and I have a bet going - if we're having a girl, we get to go to my favorite restaurant (International Buffet), and if it's a boy, we're going to Mitch's (Chili's). Mitch has offered to go to IB either way, haha - we'll see. I'm not a sore loser, especially in this case. :) We were originally going to find out the gender in August but there was an opening earlier that the nurse made me aware of and we jumped at that!
Just the hum drum of college life here. We're not in school til Sept and the rattery has slowed in sales. According to fellow rattery owners, that's normal for summer months. I've planned for the next two litters to be available starting early to mid Sept. We'll see how it pans out, but I'm hopeful.
Just a few more weeks and we'll be in TEXAS!!!! AHHHHH!!! I'm so excited!!! I can't wait to see my family again! It'll be a year next Sunday since I've seen most of my family. Dad and TexAnne came up to see us in February and totally made my month!!! I'm excited to finally be back in Texas, though. Whether Mitch likes it or not, this baby is half-Texan and that's his/her maternal homeland. Too bad I can't have the baby in Texas.
In case some of you were wondering, I'm getting out of the Air Force. :( It was a bittersweet decision but I'm glad now more than ever that at least Mitch is staying in. I don't think I could've given up that service opportunity or lifestyle (yes, I'm excited to move every few years) very easily. I'm glad that I have a husband who is serving his country though - even if I can only serve by supporting him (which is still a big way to serve! Wife-Os rock!). Not quite the hands-on experience I was looking for, but it'll be fun to hold down the fort while he deploys. Not fun that he's gone, but experience either way. Lt Col Hopkinson (our Assistant Professor of Aerospace Studies) told us an experience he had when he was called to TDY (Temporary Duty) during Christmas. It was just a week or two (I think) but Christmas was right in the middle of it. He and his wife told their kids that Daddy had to go find Santa and make sure he brought them their presents - or something to that effect. It was so sweet! I think it will be an interesting time for our family to grow closer together.
More updates to come....
I'm 15 weeks today and finally starting to show! Woot! Mitch is happy to be able to touch my growing "baby bump" and grins like the proud daddy he's going to be every time. He's so cute!
We've had to revise our baby timeline - I'm now due 14 Jan and the gender ultrasound is Jul 27!!! *rubs hands gleefully* Mitch and I have a bet going - if we're having a girl, we get to go to my favorite restaurant (International Buffet), and if it's a boy, we're going to Mitch's (Chili's). Mitch has offered to go to IB either way, haha - we'll see. I'm not a sore loser, especially in this case. :) We were originally going to find out the gender in August but there was an opening earlier that the nurse made me aware of and we jumped at that!
Just the hum drum of college life here. We're not in school til Sept and the rattery has slowed in sales. According to fellow rattery owners, that's normal for summer months. I've planned for the next two litters to be available starting early to mid Sept. We'll see how it pans out, but I'm hopeful.
Just a few more weeks and we'll be in TEXAS!!!! AHHHHH!!! I'm so excited!!! I can't wait to see my family again! It'll be a year next Sunday since I've seen most of my family. Dad and TexAnne came up to see us in February and totally made my month!!! I'm excited to finally be back in Texas, though. Whether Mitch likes it or not, this baby is half-Texan and that's his/her maternal homeland. Too bad I can't have the baby in Texas.
In case some of you were wondering, I'm getting out of the Air Force. :( It was a bittersweet decision but I'm glad now more than ever that at least Mitch is staying in. I don't think I could've given up that service opportunity or lifestyle (yes, I'm excited to move every few years) very easily. I'm glad that I have a husband who is serving his country though - even if I can only serve by supporting him (which is still a big way to serve! Wife-Os rock!). Not quite the hands-on experience I was looking for, but it'll be fun to hold down the fort while he deploys. Not fun that he's gone, but experience either way. Lt Col Hopkinson (our Assistant Professor of Aerospace Studies) told us an experience he had when he was called to TDY (Temporary Duty) during Christmas. It was just a week or two (I think) but Christmas was right in the middle of it. He and his wife told their kids that Daddy had to go find Santa and make sure he brought them their presents - or something to that effect. It was so sweet! I think it will be an interesting time for our family to grow closer together.
More updates to come....
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Here Comes BABY!!
Hi All!
So, you all already know, but here's the official announcement: we're pregnant!!! YAY! Well, I'm the pregnant one, but... you get the picture.
Here's the schedule of events:
Week 8 - bloodwork
Week 12 - first ultrasound (just heartbeat and profile pic)
Week 20 - second ultrasound (GENDER!! YAY!!)
05 Jan 2010 - delivery (hopefully)
I'll put more specific dates as I get them.
Love ya'll!!
Mitch and Kadi
So, you all already know, but here's the official announcement: we're pregnant!!! YAY! Well, I'm the pregnant one, but... you get the picture.
Here's the schedule of events:
Week 8 - bloodwork
Week 12 - first ultrasound (just heartbeat and profile pic)
Week 20 - second ultrasound (GENDER!! YAY!!)
05 Jan 2010 - delivery (hopefully)
I'll put more specific dates as I get them.
Love ya'll!!
Mitch and Kadi
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas Breakfast
None of us were able to go home for Christmas this year so Austin, Liz and Lanae came over to make breakfast with us Christmas morning. It was an awesome, relaxing, entertaining morning!
Lanae is unimpressed with Mitchell's timing with the camera
This girl is a hoot! I married into an awesome family!
Cleaning off the dishes
Our six-foot, pre-lit Christmas tree! Not too many presents under the tree this year, but it's still an awesome first married Christmas!
As you can see, breakfast was delicious! Austin flipped the pancakes, Liz made the eggs, I made the hashbrowns and Lanae fried up the sausage. YUM!! Breakfast of champions right there, folks.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Turkey Day and Christmas Beginnings
Hey y'all!
Thanksgiving was really good. We stopped by Col. Jacobs' house and helped bake pies. Annette (Col's wife) and I are making this a tradition now. :) I'll go help bake pies for Christmas, too. She gave me one of her nice glass pie pans (for a wedding gift) and I baked an apple pie in it. Mitch said it was really good. :D I'll have to sharpen my cake making skills, too. I haven't made a cake in FOREVER! :(
Anyway, after Col's house, we went to the family gathering in American Fork. We had it in a cultural hall at a church building! I've never been to a family gathering like that before. I kinda miss the family dinners when we were all together in a house, but it was still nice to be with Mitch's family. Afterwards, Col had invited us back to his house in the evening to play games, so we took Lanae and David (her boy, who is also a cadet in the corps) with us. We got there a bit late, but Col and his family still hadn't even sat down to eat! Poor Annette had been cooking all day. We got there in time for second dinner (HOLY COW, WE WERE STUFFED) and stayed talking until 9:30. All-in-all, it was a great day!
The next morning, Mitch and I woke up and went to Petsmart. We had gotten another rat (a big blue curly-haired rat named Max) a week before and he wasn't settling in well, so we made an exchange. Now, we have Ralph. He's a very tiny baby blue rat and he's settled in nicely. He and Toby are asleep on my lap even as I'm writing this. :) We also got a bigger cage for Toby and (eventually) Ralph to share. Ralph is in the smaller cage until he gets a bit bigger so he can't slip through the bars on the bigger cage. He'll probably only be there a week or so.
Austin and Liz thoughtfully picked up a pre-lighted, plastic Christmas tree for us during their Black Friday shopping at 2 am Friday morning. :) It's just over 6 feet tall and has really colorful lights. I might just buy some really cheap gold lights and switch them out... it would look better with the decorations we have on it. We're just using odds and ends around the house to decorate it right now. Mom sent me a Christmas ornament about two years ago that I still have, so that and a paper one about as old are the only real ornaments. There are fake flowers and some keychains on it that make it look pretty nice. And a bell. And a string of shells. I've got some seashells that I'm going to try to turn into ornaments, so we'll see how that turns out. I've ordered some big pendant necklaces for the girls as Christmas gifts, but I should have a couple left over so those will be turned into ornaments as well. We're excited for Jared (Mitch's brother) to come home from his church mission to Canada this December. He should be home right before New Years. :)
Love,
Kadi and Mitch
Thanksgiving was really good. We stopped by Col. Jacobs' house and helped bake pies. Annette (Col's wife) and I are making this a tradition now. :) I'll go help bake pies for Christmas, too. She gave me one of her nice glass pie pans (for a wedding gift) and I baked an apple pie in it. Mitch said it was really good. :D I'll have to sharpen my cake making skills, too. I haven't made a cake in FOREVER! :(
Anyway, after Col's house, we went to the family gathering in American Fork. We had it in a cultural hall at a church building! I've never been to a family gathering like that before. I kinda miss the family dinners when we were all together in a house, but it was still nice to be with Mitch's family. Afterwards, Col had invited us back to his house in the evening to play games, so we took Lanae and David (her boy, who is also a cadet in the corps) with us. We got there a bit late, but Col and his family still hadn't even sat down to eat! Poor Annette had been cooking all day. We got there in time for second dinner (HOLY COW, WE WERE STUFFED) and stayed talking until 9:30. All-in-all, it was a great day!
The next morning, Mitch and I woke up and went to Petsmart. We had gotten another rat (a big blue curly-haired rat named Max) a week before and he wasn't settling in well, so we made an exchange. Now, we have Ralph. He's a very tiny baby blue rat and he's settled in nicely. He and Toby are asleep on my lap even as I'm writing this. :) We also got a bigger cage for Toby and (eventually) Ralph to share. Ralph is in the smaller cage until he gets a bit bigger so he can't slip through the bars on the bigger cage. He'll probably only be there a week or so.
Austin and Liz thoughtfully picked up a pre-lighted, plastic Christmas tree for us during their Black Friday shopping at 2 am Friday morning. :) It's just over 6 feet tall and has really colorful lights. I might just buy some really cheap gold lights and switch them out... it would look better with the decorations we have on it. We're just using odds and ends around the house to decorate it right now. Mom sent me a Christmas ornament about two years ago that I still have, so that and a paper one about as old are the only real ornaments. There are fake flowers and some keychains on it that make it look pretty nice. And a bell. And a string of shells. I've got some seashells that I'm going to try to turn into ornaments, so we'll see how that turns out. I've ordered some big pendant necklaces for the girls as Christmas gifts, but I should have a couple left over so those will be turned into ornaments as well. We're excited for Jared (Mitch's brother) to come home from his church mission to Canada this December. He should be home right before New Years. :)
Our tree!
Hope all is going well with all y'all down in Texas! We miss you!Love,
Kadi and Mitch
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
My Birthday
My birthday has been awesome! Mitch got me a pet rat the day before my birthday and he sooo cute! He's about a foot long including his tail and is brown from his nose to his shoulders, with a brown stripe down his back. I took two tests on my birthday and got an A on one, which was pretty good. Still don't know about the other one; hopefully it will be handed back in class today. Austin, Lanae, Kayla and Loni had a "surprise" birthday party for me. Liz had to work, but she was there in spirit. We had cake and watched Toby (my rat) roll around in his little ball. Zeus (Austin's dog) was so excited to play with Toby. At first, he was pretty scared of the ball that moved "on its own" but he soon got used to him. It was a great birthday!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
How We Came to Be
It's September 2007. I was meeting the new cadets in Air Force ROTC and making sure I had names straight. This was my second and last year of being a "lower classman" and I wanted to make sure I did everything to make my flight as close knit as possible. Turns out, I'd be knit pretty close with one of them less than a year later...
This is one of Mitch's favorite memories of me before we were dating (notice him sitting at the table). Little E was soo cute and Mitch said he liked seeing this side of me.
Our catalyst came in the form of a mutual friend, Megan. She and I had gone country dancing at a local place in Provo and decided to invite some of our cadet friends. Mitch and one other cadet showed up, but after an hour, it was just Mitch, Megan and I. Megan was a great dancer so she had tons of partners, but me... not so much. I thought Mitch was just taking pity on me by dancing with me so often (he says he'd had a crush on me since the previous September). Warm fuzzies that night. :) We tried to repeat the activity the next week but Mitch and I were the only ones who showed up - that was our unofficial first date.
Fast forward a few weeks to Dining Out in March 2008. I'd been dropping hints that I wanted Mitch to ask me out, but he'd already asked one of the girls in his ward by the time he found out I didn't have a date. So I had the lamest of all lame dates but being in charge of the grog was AWESOME!
Me and the grog in the grog bowl - yes, it's bright green. Hehehe...
Mitch proposed April 19th in a wonderfully surprising dinner date. He told me he had reservations at a "nice restaurant" in town (never mentioned the name) and planned to pick me up around 4:30 that Thursday. Well, 4:30 rolls around and he started calling every 20 minutes to ask for 20 more minutes... until he arrived at around 6 pm. With a single rose. :) Needless to say, I forgave him. He helped me into the car and then mentioned that he forgot his wallet and could we please go back to his apartment to pick it up? I was just happy to be with him, so I said yes and, when we entered his apartment, I was sooo glad I'd said yes! He had a table set for two with two tall lit candles and another single rose in a little vase. Surprise!! This was the nice restaurant and boy was it ever! Mitch had cooked up some orange chicken and mixed a salad, then we had sherbet for dessert and then Mitch started clearing away the table and pushing the couches against the wall. He turned on some country music and recreated our first date. After a few songs, we decided to go for a walk around the bell tower. Now, I should pause here and tell you that my roommate Milla and I had come up with a little bet. She bet me that Mitch would propose to me after 8:30 that night and I humored her and said he'd propose before 8:30. K, so back to the bell tower. When we got to the observation deck of the bell tower, we watched the sun set and the birds flying around while we held hands. I had taken to wearing my old CTR ring on my left hand when I was by myself, but I had forgotten to switch hands that night. Mitch laughed when he discovered a ring on that particular finger, but then said he wanted to get me a better one. I agreed and said that we'd go looking for rings soon, but then he got down on one knee and it gets a little fuzzy from there. He asked me to marry him and I kind of lost my power of speech for a minute. Remember, I wasn't expecting him to propose until we got back to Texas! He had to prompt me for an answer (which I quickly gave) and then slipped the little two-tone opal ring on my hand. As he stood to kiss me, the bell tower chimed 8:30. I'd won the bet!! By about 90 seconds, but still, what an awesome date!! We were both so happy and so relieved that it had finally happened. We hadn't planned on making a big deal out of it, but the following Sunday during the good news minute in Relief Society, Milla raised her hand and said that her good news minute was that I had gotten engaged. Almost nobody knew that I had been dating, let alone who, but it was kind of fun to be the center of attention for a few minutes. All my friends in the ward found me in the next couple days to see the ring and offer their congratulations.
We were sealed for time and all eternity on 25 July 2008 in the Houston, TX Temple by Mitch's paternal grandfather and the rest is history!
This is one of Mitch's favorite memories of me before we were dating (notice him sitting at the table). Little E was soo cute and Mitch said he liked seeing this side of me.
Now it's Winter Semester 2008. Mitch often called me to come help last-minute with lowering the flag on BYU campus, even though Drill Team (Kadi) and Color Guard (Mitch) had a friendly rivalry. Occasionally, he'd give me a ride back to my apartment in his car, which was a huge luxury - I think he felt bad for calling me so often. ;)
Our catalyst came in the form of a mutual friend, Megan. She and I had gone country dancing at a local place in Provo and decided to invite some of our cadet friends. Mitch and one other cadet showed up, but after an hour, it was just Mitch, Megan and I. Megan was a great dancer so she had tons of partners, but me... not so much. I thought Mitch was just taking pity on me by dancing with me so often (he says he'd had a crush on me since the previous September). Warm fuzzies that night. :) We tried to repeat the activity the next week but Mitch and I were the only ones who showed up - that was our unofficial first date.Fast forward a few weeks to Dining Out in March 2008. I'd been dropping hints that I wanted Mitch to ask me out, but he'd already asked one of the girls in his ward by the time he found out I didn't have a date. So I had the lamest of all lame dates but being in charge of the grog was AWESOME!
Me and the grog in the grog bowl - yes, it's bright green. Hehehe...
Mitch sent me a text asking how my date had gone but -dun dun DUUUN!! - I didn't have texting on my phone. So Mitch calls two days later on Monday to ask for a Wednesday date. I was shocked and stunned in a good way. Mitch wasn't the first guy I dated, but I was really excited for this date. Wednesday rolls around and Mitch takes me to Chili's for dinner. Yum. Then we went for a walk around the bell tower and the tunnel by the Marriott center. As we were reached the street above the bell tower, Mitch grabbed my hand to pull me across the street... and didn't let go. He'd grabbed it at kind of an awkward spot (more fingers than hand) but I wasn't really sure what was happening was actually happening. All kinds of awkward conversation follows while the two of us tried to figure out the other's thoughts. Haha! Such an awkward moment. Neither of us pulled away (or wanted to end the date), so we went back to Mitch's apartment to watch a movie. Luckily, his roommates were just starting Ratatouille, so we settled down to watch that... still holding hands. :)
We dated for a couple weeks and then approached the ROTC commander to make sure that he knew we were dating, just to be on the safe side. ROTC has strict rules for dating within the corps (first and second years can't date third or fourth years without permission - long story). We were well within that rule (both of us were second years) but still, just wanted to be on the safe side. Little did we know that we would be back in just two short weeks....
After we'd been dating about three weeks, Mitch and I met some of his friends at Thai Ruby for lunch. I had been planning on serving an 18 month church mission that fall and Mitch had totally blindsided me. While we were sitting in the car fixing to go inside, I asked him where he thought we would be in 6 months because if this wasn't going anywhere, I wasn't going to waste my time (or his)... and he said "married." My jaw dropped, but boy was he right.
General Conference April 2008 - 2 weeks before the proposal
So, back to Col. Jacobs we went to see if there were any hoops to jump through so we could get married. Luckily, there were none and we got the green light.
We dated for a couple weeks and then approached the ROTC commander to make sure that he knew we were dating, just to be on the safe side. ROTC has strict rules for dating within the corps (first and second years can't date third or fourth years without permission - long story). We were well within that rule (both of us were second years) but still, just wanted to be on the safe side. Little did we know that we would be back in just two short weeks....
After we'd been dating about three weeks, Mitch and I met some of his friends at Thai Ruby for lunch. I had been planning on serving an 18 month church mission that fall and Mitch had totally blindsided me. While we were sitting in the car fixing to go inside, I asked him where he thought we would be in 6 months because if this wasn't going anywhere, I wasn't going to waste my time (or his)... and he said "married." My jaw dropped, but boy was he right.
General Conference April 2008 - 2 weeks before the proposalMitch proposed April 19th in a wonderfully surprising dinner date. He told me he had reservations at a "nice restaurant" in town (never mentioned the name) and planned to pick me up around 4:30 that Thursday. Well, 4:30 rolls around and he started calling every 20 minutes to ask for 20 more minutes... until he arrived at around 6 pm. With a single rose. :) Needless to say, I forgave him. He helped me into the car and then mentioned that he forgot his wallet and could we please go back to his apartment to pick it up? I was just happy to be with him, so I said yes and, when we entered his apartment, I was sooo glad I'd said yes! He had a table set for two with two tall lit candles and another single rose in a little vase. Surprise!! This was the nice restaurant and boy was it ever! Mitch had cooked up some orange chicken and mixed a salad, then we had sherbet for dessert and then Mitch started clearing away the table and pushing the couches against the wall. He turned on some country music and recreated our first date. After a few songs, we decided to go for a walk around the bell tower. Now, I should pause here and tell you that my roommate Milla and I had come up with a little bet. She bet me that Mitch would propose to me after 8:30 that night and I humored her and said he'd propose before 8:30. K, so back to the bell tower. When we got to the observation deck of the bell tower, we watched the sun set and the birds flying around while we held hands. I had taken to wearing my old CTR ring on my left hand when I was by myself, but I had forgotten to switch hands that night. Mitch laughed when he discovered a ring on that particular finger, but then said he wanted to get me a better one. I agreed and said that we'd go looking for rings soon, but then he got down on one knee and it gets a little fuzzy from there. He asked me to marry him and I kind of lost my power of speech for a minute. Remember, I wasn't expecting him to propose until we got back to Texas! He had to prompt me for an answer (which I quickly gave) and then slipped the little two-tone opal ring on my hand. As he stood to kiss me, the bell tower chimed 8:30. I'd won the bet!! By about 90 seconds, but still, what an awesome date!! We were both so happy and so relieved that it had finally happened. We hadn't planned on making a big deal out of it, but the following Sunday during the good news minute in Relief Society, Milla raised her hand and said that her good news minute was that I had gotten engaged. Almost nobody knew that I had been dating, let alone who, but it was kind of fun to be the center of attention for a few minutes. All my friends in the ward found me in the next couple days to see the ring and offer their congratulations.
We were sealed for time and all eternity on 25 July 2008 in the Houston, TX Temple by Mitch's paternal grandfather and the rest is history!
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